5 Reasons I Want My Live Event Illustration Career To Soar In 2025
2024 was a good year for me in terms of the live event illustration business that I am cultivating. I had a succesful year drawing style portraits at London’s busy Portobello Market. I also landed my first fashion brand collab with Kate Spade at their flagship store in London’s Regent Street, which was an awesome experience.
I am still yet to illustrate a Wedding, a mission that is a priority for me this year. But with some encouraging successes behind me and some exciting outstanding goals to propel me, more than ever I know that this is one path that I want to focus on.
Here are five reasons why I am drawn to the exciting world of Live Event Illustration:
It is pressured. But it’s a good pressure.
Drawing at a live event can be nerve wracking as well as exhilarating. Drawing live, in the moment, with an audience of (hopefuly appreciative) onlookers forces you into a wonderful state of in-the-momemnt awareness. You are watching your own creation unfold, with an arraay of twists and turn. Mistakes, happy accidents, spillages and smudges. Apart from the very occaional times when i will start a picture from scratch (i try to keep this to an absolute minimum) there is no going back. We have to perservere with our drawing for better or for worse. The drawing is usually ruined and redeemed several times during the process and this can be draining. But when it is finished it is very satisfying relief. For someone who left alone for too long in a studio is prone to perfectionism, navel gazing and indecision, live event work is the perfect solution!
It’s Financially Rewarding.
Who says you need to suffer for your art? i firmly believe that the idea of the starving artist should be relegated to the wastepaper basket of history. Wedding Illustration industry, I am looking at you . People spend a fortune on their big day and look how much wedding photographers get - just for pointing and clicking. If you have the talent and skill to add an extra layer of delight and joy to a joyous wedding celebration why not say ‘‘I do!’’
Fashion brand collabs might not pay as much as a wedding or they may pay more. But these gigs will elevate your portfolio, give you social proof and help you get more paid bookings as well as allowing the brand to surroung itself with flourishing creativity. It’s a win win situation for all parties.
Its a test of our skills.
Event Illustration is a true test of our hard acquired drawing skills. Think of all the skills you’ve honed in the hours of life-drawing sessions you have immersed yourself in. Think of all the drawing practice you have done. Wether its drawing from photos of fashion shows or sketching people in a cafe or on the street. Think of all the experiomenting with different tools and materials. Well here is the proving ground. Illustrating a live event, all these skills will be put to the test. A true test of skill. No fakery. No turning back. Mistakes and all. No filters. If your passion is for the quick expressive figutrative portrait sketch - this is what you have been working for!
It’s interesting.
Artwork is unpredictable and we never know how a finished piece will look. As it unfolds we must solve problems. When we do this in public we are engaging all our senses and perception. There are people buzzing around us, staring at our work, judging us. Our tools have limitations. We make mistakes and correct them. We work out how to meet certain challenges. Every condition of the environment is variable as is every quality of the work. Time constraints, colour, composition, line quality, narrative elements - art-making is a multi faceted process that utilisies all our senses, intuition and creativity. This makes it infinitely more interesting than carrying out the sort of functions you do on a computer, processes that can be reduced and broken down into binary terms. This is why artists are usually more interesting than people who are purely technical or logical. Live Event illustration is a place where we get to experience our best selves. Enjoy it.
It brings peoople joy.
Not everyone is happy with their live event portrait. One guy grumbled that I had drawn his jumper the wrong colour (a slightly different shade of green) and not given him enough stubble. You can’t please everybody. Reactions vary. I get ‘Ah that’s so cute’ quite a lot. It is a satisfactory response. Even if you don’t get a likeness but they get a laugh out of i is still a positive result. But what I really love is the customers who are overcome with delight. They can’t hide it. You have either caught a really good likeness, some character or the drawing is masterful in some other way. When the subject walks off looking at their artwork with a big smile on their face it is hugely rewarding. You have provided the icing on the cake of someone having a lovely day. They may have never been drawn before. They may not have realised how beautiful or stylish they look. Theses are the ones that make it really worhtwile.
Bonus Point! - It is not AI
I’m not giong to lie, I have enjoyed playing with AI myself and it can be fun. But in a very short time it has become very boring looking. Think of clip art in the nineties - AI is fast becoming on a par with that. It’s not big and its not clever - it has its uses sometimes. I have used it to brainstorm some cartoon elements in drawing. It’s a bit like a glorified google image search, - but AI artwork is generally boring. With the proliferation of AI generated artwork and social media posts, live sketching is something that really stands out; you are a human drawing and the world can see it. Live Event Illustration is going to boom because of this.
If you are looking to launch your live sketching career - join me on this journey. I am offering a 4 zoom call 1-1 launchpad for people who are interested in taking the first steps. Having run a successful live sketching business in a London tourist hotspot for two years I would like to share everything that I have learnt with you and inviting you to join me on all the steps I will be taking this year too!
Use discount code DROPDEADGORGEOUS for 25% Off
Keep on drawing.
Woody X
